One of  the claims that speakers at the October 2021  Alzheimer’s World Summit was that dementia could be reversed or cured.   Lifelong die-hard science groupie that I am, I was immediately suspicious. While thinking about, promoting, and preparing for the conference, I tried to learn as much as I could about slowing/preventing/reversing/curing dementia in the contexts of both complementary/alternative/intergrative medicine as well as Western medicine. On prevention and reversal, the two forms of knowledge has some common ground.

While even I swear that meditation works to fill my head with peace, the most evidence-based medicine can say is that trials shows that it provides “modest benefits” in anxiety, pain, and depression. However, “larger-scale randomized, rigorous trials are needed” (Scientific American).

The two camps agree that interventions exist that can slow and possibly prevent dementia, though non-Western medicine is far more positive about the likelihood and offers more treatments toward it than Western medicine; at the same time, non-western medicine almost totally lacks the peer-reviewed control-group trials so revered in Western medicine. However, there are seven pillars for a brain-healthy lifestyle over which individuals might have control on which the two sides agree: Regular exercise, Social engagement, Healthy diet, Mental stimulation, Quality sleep, Stress management, and Vascular health. While the particulars of treatment vary widely between the two camps, the pillars, at least, seem to stand.

A few anecdotal reports about reversals of memory-loss and other dementia-related losses exist on either side. In one dramatic account, albeit in a newspaper rather than a scientific journal, Western medicine treatments at the University of Florida’s Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration lead to a “cure“: “The Woman who Recovered from Dementia.” The punch line is that the underlying condition turned out to be a brain tumor (removed through surgery) and not one of the 200 recognized forms of dementia.

“Cured of dementia,” Pauline (mother of Roni Caryn Rabin, author of The Woman who Recovered from Dementia) poses with her granddaughters. The retired psychiatrist’s cognitive symptoms improved immediately after brain surgery. Photo: Washington Post.

In another “miraculous report, “a diet of blueberries and dark chocolate” “reversed” another woman’s dementia: Sylvia Hatzer was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in December 2016 and it progressed so fast that within months she forgot even who her son was. It turns out that her cure consisted of somewhat more than “blueberries and dark chocolate”—and even more than her son Mark reports when he says, “Everyone knows about fish but there is also blueberries, strawberries, Brazil nuts and walnuts—these are apparently shaped like a brain to give us a sign that they are good for the brain.” Sylvia’s diet was, in fact, an enhanced version of the Mediterranean diet, the Green Med, which adds plant-derived iron and protein to make up for the original version’s depletion of the body’s iron stores when dietary meat is decreased. Interestingly, proponents of the Green Med diet emphasize that it works at its best if combined by the other 6 aspects of the “seven pillars.” Through Western-style trials, the Mediterranean diet and it’s green version have already been verified  as the best treatment for managing heart-related risk factors, including decreases in body weight, cholesterol, and blood pressure. From a science perspective, Sylvia Hatzer’s improvement can be explained through the fact that the inflammation in her brain, a chemical change in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s, was decreased through a diet high in antioxidants. Even her son Mark does not claim “recovery” from Alzheimer’s, but rather “improvement.” Sue Clarke from the Alzheimer’s Association also does not consider Hatzer’s case as an example of complete reversal. “It’s fantastic that Sylvia and her son Mark have taken action to create a personal plan that works well for her dementia diagnosis,” she says. “There currently no cure or way of preventing the progression of the condition, but taking regular gentle exercise, eating a healthy diet and doing cognitive exercises can help someone with dementia manage their symptoms more effectively.

Sylvia Hatzer with her son Mark, who helped her follow a diet high in antioxidants that helped her to considerably reverse some of her dementia symptoms

Summit speakers who claimed that their treatment could prevent, reverse, or cure dementia